Our monthly release round-up is usually a grab bag of headlining acts and whatever crawls out from Bandcamp’s underbelly. I wish we could say we had the most obscure picks every month, if only for bragging points, but unfortunately, people value sharing musical experiences and building a community through it (what some call bondmaxxing), so we listen to and enjoy “the big releases.” June gave us a few tasty ones that we can’t leave unmentioned, and we covered them through lengthy interviews. These include the long-awaited returns of both Stormkeep and Khemmis. On the more mysterious side of things was Fief’s VII. Expectedly, they did not grant us an interview. Further expectedly, it sounds like Fief’s seventh album, meaning that tavern regulars and dungeon masters need no further convincing to check it out. Anyone who has ever sniffed a dungeon synth apparatus or is aware of Vermis has already heard VII, so including it felt like planting a tree in a rainforest then posting about environmental activism. Still, if you aren’t caught up with Fief, begin with VII. The minstrel will guide you through your vision quest.
That aside, were there any other big returns this month?
Nope! Definitely not.
Keep reading for some of our favorite releases from this past month.
…
Black Glow – Waves and Mirrors – Mirrors and Waves | Independent (June 3)
Monterrey duo Black Glow harmoniously blend doom metal and shoegaze on their independently released debut full-length, Waves and Mirrors – Mirrors and Waves. Spanning eight tracks across 44 minutes, the album’s title was inspired by the idea that we are all “mirrors and waves” endlessly reflecting one another through life’s finite existence, a concept that lends an introspective dimension to the record’s dreamlike mood. It is built around colossal walls of guitar, bass, drums, synthesizers, mellotron, and organ, moving at an unhurried pace with a lingering undercurrent of melancholy.
Throughout the record, Gina Ríos, Octavio Diliegros, and special guest Christian Peters display a sharp instinct for texture. Gina’s ethereal vocals float above the heavy distortion and deep ambiance, adding an otherworldly dimension to the band’s immersive landscapes.
“Soma” is a slow-burning piece that builds a mysterious, hypnotic atmosphere through soulful vocals and heavy, repetitive rhythms before peaking with a soaring guitar solo. Meanwhile, “Obsidian” is a shadowy track that blends heavy rock rhythms with expressive vocals and cosmic textures. The heart-stirring “Child in the Mirror” serves as a testament to perseverance. Musically, it captures the band’s heavygaze sound by balancing haunting, drifting vocals with commanding layers of distorted guitar. Through poignant lyrics like, “Gathering all the broken pieces, you were born in survival mode,” and, “No wood, no warm shelter… but you still made it,” the song offers a raw emotional look at an enduring survivor. Ultimately, Black Glow delivers a masterful performance that immerses you in a vividly crafted world.
–Lily O’Delia
…
Kilter – Ten Billion Years | Excursus Production/ Alter-Native Publishing (June 19)
Back in the ’90s, bands like Atheist and Cynic asked, “What if you added some jazz to metal?” Kilter, like Italy’s Zu, have since reversed that question: “What if you added some metal to jazz?” The Brooklyn-based trio—saxophonist Ed Rosenberg III, bassist Laurent David, and drummer Kenny Grohowski (of Imperial Triumphant)—offer their best answer yet to that hypothetical with their stunning new album, Ten Billion Years, which they describe as, “A water molecule’s entire existence, reimagined through Kilter’s dense jazz-metal textures.” Indeed, Kilter make, well, off-kilter music, and I’d go with “doom-y sludge-jazz” as my best attempt at a description. The standout here is Grohowski’s incredible playing—a fascinating combination of Brann Dailor and Neil Peart—which is some of the best drumming of 2026. As such, Ten Billion Years should end up on multiple year-end lists. It’s that good.
–Steve Lampiris
…
BIG|BRAVE – in grief or in hope | Thrill Jockey Records (June 12)
Having cemented themselves in modern drone metal circles, Montréal’s BIG|BRAVE decides percussion is no longer necessary for their walls of sound. On in grief or in hope, their guitars stand like giants under layers of reverb and distortion, a physical force that knocks you down. The fortress is overpacked, however, causing its dense and dark tones to demolish. Crackling, scraping, cutting in and out–these textured guitars break with humanity under the weight of all they carry.
A weight is found in Robin Wattie’s singing as it varies from dark and monotone to tender and wearied. Encouraged to challenge everything known about the band, her vocals are manipulated by autotune, wavering in the force of brutish sound waves. All is rendered unrecognizable, as is the state one finds themself when dealing with the burden of living and losing, of asking oneself, as Wattie does, “What may be the kindest way to leave?” The question is answered within the sonic magnitude: there is no kind or easy way. It will always be harrowing.
–Aidan Sibley
…
Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist | Avantgarde Music (June 19)
The closest Nashville ever came to black-metal-derived-visual-kei was in ominous, lingering moments between sets when David Sylvian’s Japan opened for Blue Öyster Cult in 1978. Then, Saidan came around in 2020.
Now, Splatterpvnk and Hundosai’s Saidan is neither Japan nor a Cult, but that description smiles (in that painted Cheshire Cat way) with the melodic and structural excellence Saidan provides on Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist. The conceptual psychosis (to me) is lost in the expansive soundscape, but it involves a woman named Junko, a cult called Ethereal Blood, and terrible beauty. The details feel richer left unwritten. Fangdriller is a fantastic album that consumes the last fifty years of radical metal history from both sides of the Pacific. The strongest song is the melodic empyrean of “Womb of Hatred,” but the most technically impressive is the ornately titled “Stained Glass Sin – Fang Driller.” The invocation is prominent. Fangdriller ends on an uncomfortable note. Uncomfortable not in the sense of content (though there is some of that), but of raw exposure. Raw as the blood under skin. Bone under masked faces.
–William Pauper
…
Warning – Rituals of Shame | Relapse Records (June 19)
Twenty years after the release of what has become a cult classic doom metal album, Warning follows Watching from a Distance as if time hadn’t passed. Vocalist Patrick Walker started the slowcore project 40 Watt Sun in the years in between as a more soothing way to convey his emotions. As the years crept on and 40 Watt Sun softened, the darkness of doom metal presented a wick for Walker to ignite again. There is little distinction from Walker’s vocal performance between bands–he remains emotionally strained, slightly nasal, and entirely powerful–but the orchestrations surrounding him are darker and more hopeless.
The further Rituals of Shame pulls you into the swamp, the harder it is to release yourself. With five songs across 45 minutes, energy is replaced with a brooding sense of surrender to depression. Thick drums shake the Earth with each hit. Guitars and bass feed on the lowest tones available. Walker wails of terrifying isolation, stating, “There’s nothing that can reach me in the world outside.” These murky tracks don’t dawdle; they immerse themselves in enduring sadness until you’re broken. Burdened by this much intensity, it may reasonably take the band another 20 years to confront it again.
…
LIVE & LOUD: Stream the World’s Hardest Radio Station 24/7 Below: